How Iran’s Regime Drives Child Labor and School Dropouts with Ongoing Shutdowns and Social Neglect

As pollution levels soar and schools in Iran face frequent closures, the nation grapples with a silent crisis: the increasing exploitation of vulnerable children. The Iranian regime, either unable or unwilling to tackle the environmental, economic, and educational disasters it has fostered, has turned these school closures into a recurring national catastrophe, compelling at-risk children to abandon their classrooms and plunge into exploitative labor.

Social activists in Iran report that when schools shut down, many impoverished families are forced to pull their children into the workforce to “make use of the empty day.” This is not merely a temporary response but rather a systemic consequence of decades marked by economic mismanagement, stark inequality, and the regime’s failure to uphold children’s rights.

A System Built on Abandoning the Most Vulnerable

“Afkham Sabbagh,” a social activist and co-founder of the Mehromah Institute, underscores that the most affected are children from impoverished and marginalized communities. They become the primary victims of Iran’s crumbling education system, particularly as schools frequently transition to virtual learning—a method that disproportionately impacts low-income families lacking access to technology, reliable internet, or supportive learning environments.

Her warning is dire: the regime-driven school closures have become so commonplace that the resulting damage is now irreversible for countless children.

A Lost Year of Education—Repeated Each Year

From 2021 to December 2025, Iran has effectively lost an entire academic year due to virtual schooling and frequent closures. Estimates indicate that there were between 260 to 300 days of nationwide virtual education, largely spurred by hazardous pollution levels and the regime’s failure to address fundamental issues such as outdated industry practices, poor fuel quality, and flawed urban planning.

While officials may label these closures as “temporary,” the statistics reveal a different narrative. The rate of school dropouts has surged:

• 2020–2021: Approximately 911,000 children dropped out or were already out of school.
• 2023–2024: Over 950,000 children, with figures still rising as data collection remains incomplete.

In just four years, nearly 40,000 more children have been added to the ranks of Iran’s lost generation. Disturbingly, many of these children leave school at early grades, suggesting they may never return to education.

Poverty and Regime Policies Accelerate Child Labor

Data from the Parliament Research Center reveals that 70% of dropouts originate from the lowest income brackets, with the second income decile alone accounting for 22%. This stark reality reflects the regime’s crippling economic crisis, soaring inflation, and the disintegration of household purchasing power.

For these families—abandoned by the government and ensnared in deepening poverty—child labor is not a choice, but a desperate necessity. The shift to virtual schooling and closures merely accelerates this process, pulling children away from educational environments and thrusting them into the labor market prematurely.

Meanwhile, the regime continues to evade responsibility, refusing to offer the economic, environmental, or educational support essential to curtail these dire outcomes.

The Regime’s Neglect: A Catalyst for a Lost Generation

Iran is now facing a perilous convergence of crises: extreme pollution, widening inequality, educational collapse, and the rampant normalization of child labor. Each of these issues stems directly from the regime’s corruption, mismanagement, and long-standing negligence towards human welfare.

As long as the Iranian authorities rely on shutdowns rather than implementing genuine solutions—and prioritize political survival over public health and well-being—the nation will continue to generate a generation of children stripped of education, safety, and opportunities.

The exploitation of working children during school closures is not an accident; it is the foreseeable result of a system that has forsaken its own populace.

It is essential to recognize that addressing these intertwined crises requires not only immediate action but also long-term commitment from the Iranian government to invest in sustainable solutions. The future of countless children hangs in the balance, and without urgent intervention, Iran risks condemning an entire generation to a cycle of poverty and exploitation.